Worland man recalls 9/11 in D.C.

WORLAND — Richard McKamey thought the trip in 2001 to Washington, D.C., would be like the other annual fly-ins for the sugar industry where they can visit with members of Congress; however, this trip would be unlike any other.

He awoke Tuesday morning, Sept. 11, 2001. He went to the basement of the Senate Russell Building to have a cup of coffee.

“And on television, here is this thing that you would think was King Kong or something, something running into this building,” he said. “I guess I’m not even sure. You know, it didn’t strike me right away because there wasn’t any voice to it or anything like that.”

He continued to watch and the second plane, United Airlines Flight 175 struck the World Trade Center South Tower.

“I had appointments that morning with two Senate offices, and later on with our House of Representatives (Barbara Cubin at that time),” he said. 

His first appointment had been scheduled with Sen. Craig Thomas’ office, in the Hart building. McKamey noted the building is the highest of the Senate office buildings. After the towers were hit, the Capitol was being shut down and meetings were canceled. An official evacuation order was issued at 10:15 a.m.

“I was actually outside the building. You know there’s kind of an area up behind that you can look and you kind of look past the Supreme Court and all, and you can actually see the Pentagon. I ran into Flip McConaughey, who was the chief of staff for the senator, and sure enough, we can see the smoke coming out of the Pentagon, and it’s pretty shocking because people are going everywhere, and there’s already rumors of chemical stuff and all that.

“But just at about that time, the Capitol Hill police [officer] says, “Run! There’s a plane coming out. Of course, they didn’t say which direction to run. They were just warning people ... and that was the United 93 that eventually some heroes took down [in Pennsylvania] that didn’t end up coming in there, but it was a very chaotic time.”

McKamey said it was an emotional and confusing time. 

“I mean there was a little terror and fear going on, but I think the [Flight] 93 thing when we figured out what that was, was really a case of heroes that probably saved a lot of lives,” he said. “Yeah, you know that that plane would have hit one of the buildings .. I think it was headed for the Capitol building, is what we were told.”

According to the Senate website, “Subsequent investigations by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks discovered a high probability that the Capitol was the intended target of the Flight 93 hijackers.”

He added, “The things that I just remember is the fear, the confusion of being there and doing that ... I’ll always remember the sight of looking down from up there and seeing smoke coming out of the Pentagon.”

He said he did not hear the crash into the Pentagon. McKamey noted that another Worland friend, Navy Capt Richard Strickler, was at the Navy Annex that day.

“We had seen him the day before,” McKamey said. 

The annex is up on the hill above the Pentagon.

McKamey said when he talked to Strickler, “He said ‘that plane all but scraped the top of our building as it came over.’ He says you couldn’t believe the sound.”

With everything, including public transportation shut down, McKamey walked a “good three-mile walk” to his hotel. He said by the time he made the walk, nearly everyone had cleared out of the downtown area and he saw only two other people on the street.

His thoughts as he was walking? 

“Just utter disbelief. You know, just it was so quiet and all. And it was a period of time where I spent a lot of time in D.C. and up and down there,” said McKamey. “But to walk those streets and see hardly anybody was just unbelievable.”

“I guess what I would say is, you know, we all remember exactly where we were, not making mine a case, but it was really brought home. I mean, at that point, you don’t know exactly what’s going on. There’s no real good information. Like I said, we met with people the next day that kind of filled us in on things, but there was a lot of uncertainty,” he said.

About three days after 9/11, the sugar industry delegation that McKamey was with was finally able to rent a car and head home with air traffic still grounded. He said the group divided into two groups, the Wyoming group in one car and one in Montana, caravanning together.

“I can tell you the roads were crowded, and if you’ve been East, a lot of the freeways back there aren’t nearly as wide as the ones we see out here. So it was a crowded thing. And a remembrance that I have is, is we stopped outside of Chicago and said, ‘Well, we’re gonna, head through Chicago’ because it was the shortest route, not realizing that by the time we hit downtown Chicago, it’s the worst truck traffic jam you’d ever see in your life, because with no airplanes, every truck in the country was on the road. The Montanans missed the turn and went to Milwaukee. We made it straight home.”

“I’m really proud that our people are putting together a 25-year celebration here in Worland,” McKamey said. “I think it’s terribly important to remember that. There were a lot of heroes, and remembering this date is, I think, really important in our history.”

This story was published on Sept. 10, 2026. 

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